So in the realm of parenthood dilemmas, I recognize that this is small potatoes. It doesn’t even rank compared to having to explain what death means or where babies come from. But still, the question I face nearly three times a day is:

Where do I start?

If I start with his hands, they immediately get re-gooed on his tray. If I remove his try first, he will not be dissuaded from getting down. If I start with his face or hair, he gives himself another avocado facial as soon as I’m done.

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Ha! So remember struggling with the same thing. I actually used to wipe down the tray first instead of removing it. Then move very quickly to hands trying to hold them both away from the tray while cleaning so the tray doesn’t get covered again. Once that’s done, face and body are easy. It’s an art, isn’t it?

For our second, though, we did start eating breakfast before dressing in the morning so we could bath after breakfast and we get ready for bed right after dinner, so a bath was an option there too.

I take everything off, push plate/food away, unbuckle. I pick up (leave bib on if there’s one on) and sit her on the edge of the sink holding with one arm back to me. I’ve shown her to rinse her hands, and I rinse her face by cupping water in my hand. I usually rub water on her legs. soap, rinse again and dry everywhere. Take off the bib and diaper/outfit…new everything on. Then I wipe down the chair, then the floor. I apply this everywhere we go. At restaurants etc. Everyone has a sink and she loves to play in the water, plus she’s learning skills with washing herself up.

We also end a meal with a lesson of drinking out of cup. She usually will spill some water which rinses a lot off as well ; ).

1. Get two cloths wet.
2. Use one cloth to wipe tray – rinse cloth.
3. Use one cloth to quickly remove big bits from face then hands.
4. Immediately use second cloth to wipe again, getting more bits before they get reschmeered.
5. Rinse both cloths.
6. Remove tray
7. Re-wipe face, hands, and tummy if summer/relevant, using bachup cloth when you need.

Yes, it’s a lot! But I find less work than the bath option, though sometimes without a doubt bath is the only option. It took me into kid #2′s toddlerhood to master this technique. Good luck! Really enjoy your blog.